I'm Proud of You, Luffy
by Snickers999999
Summary: An observation of the newest Pirate King from two of the most powerful (and dead, sadly) men in the world.


**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. **

**Hope you like this! I will go back to writing Naruto: Kitsune Warrior, I just had to get this out of my mind!**

A white slate. That was all anyone would be able to see. The only splashes of color anywhere, were two figures and a screen in front of them.

One appeared to be shirtless, with black pants and black boots. He had an orange belt that had an "A" on it, and atop his head, was a matching orange hat. He could be seen with a pistol strapped to his side.

The other dwarfed the size of his companion. He was a tall man, with a white coat draped across his wide shoulders. In his right hand, he held a spear that fit with his physique. However, his most prominent feature would have to be his crescent-shaped mustache that curled upwards and spread across the length of his face.

You could identify these two men as some of the most powerful and dangerous men in history. They were "Fire-Fist" Portgas D. Ace and "Whitebeard" or Edward Newgate.

Together, they stood in front of a screen that seemingly floated in midair. On the screen, there was a man somewhere in his twenties, with black hair, a straw hat, and a large smile on his face for all to see. He was "Straw Hat" Luffy, or as most now know him as: The Second Pirate King.

"I'm so happy for you, Luffy." Ace whispered to himself, even though Whitebeard heard him.

"That's quite a brother you have there, Ace." Whitebeard told the man.

"I know, actually, I've always known there was something special about him." Ace added.

Whitebeard turned slightly to look at the young man, "What do you mean?"

Ace smiled slightly as he gained a far away look in his eyes, "When we he first came to Dadan's place with Garp, where I lived at the time, he immediately latched onto my shadow. No matter what I did, he always continued to follow me. The first interaction between us was me spitting on his face and him yelling at me to apologize. And yet, even when I never said sorry, he still continued to want to worm his way into my heart." Ace explained to his captain.

Whitebeard laughed loudly, greatly amused at the boy that he had heard a lot about, but only got a little time to meet. "Gurarara, he must have been very determined."

Ace smile grew, "Yeah, spitting wasn't even the start of it, either, I lured him into a cave with a bear once and left him there, threw him into an area that had the biggest and most aggressive boars I've ever seen, and another time, I made him chase me running for five miles. Somehow, even with him being as weak as he was, he survived all of those things only being _seven years old._ He was so annoying to me at the time, always asking me where I was going, if he could go, and always talking about that hat of his. And then, when he found out where I had been going all those times, I was able to catch a glimpse of something that my ten year old self could never have processed." Ace gave a small chuckle.

"And what was that thing that was above anything you could have ever processed?" Whitebeard inquired the young man. He knew that his son was not dumb in the slightest, and he doubted that he had been dumber than any normal child his age when he was seven. He wondered what this wisdom Ace's brother must have shared for him to be stumped.

Ace looked sad and guilty to have to finish the story, but knew his captain was curious and wanted to know, so he continued, "Luffy found the hideout that myself and another boy, Sabo, had used to store the money and treasure that we planned to use as our pirate money. When Luffy got to the place, him being the idiot he was, alerted us to himself being there. We, of course, believed that he would give away the location of all of our stuff and so, we tied him up and then planned to kill him to keep the secret hidden." Ace laughed a little, they were all so stupid back then.

Whitebeard gave him a disbelieving look, "He was _seven_, how could you even think of doing something like that to an innocent child?" The large man couldn't believe his ears, he knew that pirates were seen as being ruthless, but that was something that only the worst of men would be able to sleep with. He knew that Ace was not one of those people who gave pirates such a bad reputation, but to even think that his son would even think of killing someone that young.

Ace gave a nervous chuckle, "Yeah, well, at the time, I thought the world hated my very being and I believed that Luffy would, too. If Luffy didn't come into my life, I don't know where I would be truthfully, he showed me what life could really be like… But, anyways, with my voice and Sabo's arguing who had to follow through with the plan and Luffy screaming his head off that we couldn't kill him, we attracted some of the Bluejam pirates, our enemies. They were one of most common people to steal from, so of course, they would know our faces quite well. To stay hidden, we jumped into the bushes to hide ourselves."

Whitebeard could see where this was going already, "So you two left Luffy out there with those other pirates?"

Ace nodded sadly, "Yeah, and because they could hear our voices mixed in with Luffy's screams, they knew he was connected to us in some way. So they took him… they took him, and we didn't care. All we cared about at the time was about our precious treasure…" Ace cursed his own foolishness, he might have only been ten, but he still shouldn't have been so naive.

Whitebeard said nothing, only being able to signal Ace to continue, it would help the boy if he got this burden of guilt off his shoulders.

With a calming breath, Ace continued the story, "And that idiot didn't give them the answers they wanted, like where the treasure was, no he refused to give in to them. So, they tortured him, one of the pirates in the Bluejam pirates, Porchemy, had a pair of spiked gloves that he used to torture Luffy with. Somehow, they figured out Luffy's devil fruit, whether they asked him or they realized it themselves, but they were able to hurt him. Only after we had moved all of the treasure and money to a new location, figuring Luffy would give in to the pirates quickly since he was such a crybaby, did we realize what was actually happening. Sabo came to me screaming for us to go help Luffy, as they were torturing him and how he wouldn't give them the information. Of course, we ran as fast as we could to where they were, and when we got there, Prochemy had a sword and was about to slice Luffy in two. I still can picture his bloody figure, all bruised and him crying all over himself. And yet, when he turned his head slightly and saw that it was the two of us, his face immediately scrunched up into a broad smile and he seemed so… so happy."

Whitebeard chuckled, he really wished he had had more time with the boy before he died. The more he heard of the boy, the more respect he gained for the boy.

"I couldn't really understand why he would be so happy to see us, we had practically sent him to get killed. And then, when we saved him and defeated Porchemy and the Bluejam pirates that were with him, he did something that completely blew my mind. He was of course balling from the near-death situation that he had just been in, but every time I think back to that moment I can't help but think that he wasn't afraid of death at all." Ace looked deeply in thought, he still didn't fully understand what had been going through Luffy's head at the time.

Whitebeard gazed at him curiously, "What do you mean by that?" He wanted to hear what Ace thought of the boy that continued to intrigue him more than anyone else had in his entire life.

Ace looked him in the eye, "When I yelled at him that I hated crybabies, he tried to stop crying and then he thanked us. He thanked us for saving him. This is what I've never been able to figure out: was he crying from the scariness of him nearly dying, or were they tears of joy that they had come to save him? I've never been able to get a real answer to that question…" Ace eyes swam with unanswered questions, as he looked back to feet to think once more.

Whitebeard contemplated this new piece of information that he gained. Well, the kid was one with the Will of D… "Ace, what about him being a 'D'?"

Ace shook his head, "I've already thought of that, but no, even myself having the D in my name, I was still petrified of dying. When I got older, I realized that death was only an end to this chapter in my life, and while I would be sad leaving my old life behind, I knew that it would never leave me forever, and that death wasn't that scary. I think the whole 'not scared of dying' thing with being a 'D' comes with wisdom, and for most, that means aging."

Whitebeard now understood where Ace got confused, "But Luffy isn't most. That's where he shocked you, correct?"

Ace shook his head, surprising Whitebeard, "No, while that had shocked me and Sabo, what he said next is something that should have come out of someone who was ten times Luffy's age. When I asked him why he didn't just tell them the location, he said that he would be alone. He said that the reason he always chased me around, was because he didn't have anyone else. Yeah, he had the people taking care of us, but they were mountain bandits, they didn't really care much about us. And he had his grandfather, but at the time, he was just the person who checked up on us a few times per year, and the person who would hit us on the head. He really had no one but myself, and eventually Sabo." Ace explained to his father-figure.

Whitebeard was impressed to say the least, this kid, at age seven, was able to put a smile on his face, even when he was feeling so lonely.

Ace continued, "And then I remember saying that although he would be alone, 'that'd be better than dying, right?' Luffy then said the most amazing thing I think I've ever heard, come from anyone, no matter their age, including even you, Oyaji. His exact words were that 'Being alone is much worse than getting hurt!' I can't comprehend that a seven year old said that, that is what has had me knowing that Luffy was special in some way." Ace finished the story, looking up to his captain, wondering how he would react.

Whitebeard was, in all aspects of the phrase, surprised beyond belief. It was hard to imagine a seven year old having that much knowledge and wisdom of the world. '_Maybe the heavens themselves had plans for that kid from the start...'_ It would certainly explain a lot of the things that happened to the energetic ball of energy that was the new Pirate King.

Ace smiled at his father, "I can't believe though that he actually became Pirate King! I knew that he would certainly get somewhere in life, but I didn't realize he would actually achieve his lifelong promise and goal; and he's still so young!" Ace's facial features had completely swapped from his confused, still slightly guilt expression, to his rather content and extremely happy face.

Whitebeard laughed, "Gurararara, that's right, he is quite young to already have something that people dream all their lives for!"

Ace's smile stretched across his face, and he looked towards the picture of his little brother, "I'm proud of you, Luffy."

-At The End of the Grand Line-

"_I'm proud of you, Luffy."_

The second Pirate King stiffened when he heard the voice that he knew so well. It came with a slight breeze, and the words were barely audible. But when the breeze passed the young man, he felt a hand latch onto his shoulder. He looked up and found the face that he had only seen in his dreams ever since that horrible day. He found the pair of eyes that he so missed, but what he found in those eyes was what caught his attention: overwhelming amounts of pride, all directed towards himself.

The figure holding his shoulder smiled brightly at him, before another breeze came through, sweeping the ghostly figure away.

The new king felt his eyes dampen slightly, but knew that the figure would never want him to cry over something as simple as the loss of his life. And so, he blinked away the tears and put a smile on his face, after all, it meant the world to him for his older brother to be proud of him.


End file.
